Newcastle Falcons go into the New Year bottom of the Aviva Premiership table, despite showing plenty of positives in a defeat to Leicester Tigers.

London Irish’s home victory over Northampton Saints leaves the Falcons occupying the drop spot. Dean Richards’ men were level at the interval but fell to a spirited second-half showing from the Tigers.

Few fly-halves will make their first Premiership start in a more daunting arena than Welford Road, but that was the challenge laid down to Craig Willis as Richards rewarded the 20-year-old’s European form with selection in preference to the more experienced Tom Catterick.

Mark Wilson’s move to the second row was another selection to catch the eye as Newcastle went in search of their first league win since May, the Tigers’ line-up including ex-Falcons Mathew Tait, Dom Barrow and former Royal Grammar School pupil Fraser Balmain.

The latter lasted less than five minutes before being sent to the sin-bin for a tip tackle on Willis, who dusted himself off to calm nerves with a well-struck penalty from 40m out on the right.

It was the reward his side’s impressive start deserved, the visitors enjoying possession in Leicester’s half as Wilson and Alex Tait made yards with ball in hand.

Ally Hogg, Michael Young and Tait probed the defence with a slick scrum move on the 22, Chris Harris and Young both pinning the hosts back through a much-improved tactical kicking game.

It got even better for Newcastle on 12 minutes, when the decision to kick a penalty to the corner from inside the 22 paid dividends, Wilson taking a simple ball at the front and setting in motion a maul which ended with Nili Latu scoring in the right corner.

Willis made easy work of the conversion from wide out as the lead extended to 10, Leicester twice denied tries through the Falcons’ much-improved maul defence before finally settling for three points via Freddie Burns’ boot.

That preceded a manic five-minute spell which saw two Newcastle men sent to the sin-bin, two Tigers tries scored and one of them chalked off, Belisario Agulla the first to be shown yellow for a tip tackle on Tom Croft.

The resulting penalty saw Telusa Veainu dot down from a quick cross-field kick, only for an eagle-eyed video referee to rule it out for a knock-on. Wilson was sin-binned for an offence at the previous ruck and, with two extra men, Veainu finally scored a legitimate try in the right corner.

Burns’ touchline conversion drew the teams level, with Leicester denied the lead on 34 minutes when Tait knocked on in the act of scoring with no defenders anywhere near him.

It was a let-off for a Falcons side desperate to reach half-time with honours even, a milestone they achieved through sensible time management in the dying seconds of the first period.

Newcastle’s defensive dam was breached two minutes after the resumption when centre Peter Betham sped into the left corner, and one sensed the tide had turned at a venue the Falcons had not won at since their 1998 Premiership title heroics. Tane Takulua’s persistent box-kicking helped feed a Leicester back three intent on running the ball back, the broken-field nature of the game suiting Richard Cockerill’s side as the Falcons continued to give them set-piece rough rides.

A strong Newcastle scrum provided a stable platform, Juan Pablo Socino adding similar grunt to the back-line having been shipped on for the closing quarter.

Growing anxious and adventurous in equal measure as they searched for a hole in Leicester’s defensive line, there was also the sub-plot of hanging on for a potentially precious losing bonus point.

Hopes evaporated when No8 Laurence Pearce crashed over in the right corner five minutes from time, Leicester playing an advantage from a high tackle by Latu on fellow Tongan Opeti Fonua.

It was harsh on a Falcons side who had played a full part in the contest, but go into 2016 with plenty of work to do in preserving their Premiership status.

Play as they did in this game and they should have few worries there, but at some stage the promising performances have to be turned into points. The visit of Bath on Saturday offers no easy prospect, going into a pivotal trip to London Irish eight days later.

The foundations are there. The key is finding the ability to scrape results from this most unforgiving of leagues.